It FEELS Like Home Again ...

I was a little bit disappointed in myself when I didn't step right back into the daycare mode right off the bat when I reopend my Daycare Doors last week ...

By the end of my daycare 'career', I had things running like a finely oiled machine around here. I had daily and weekly routines that worked. The house was tidy and clean. Little things got done on a regular basis. I am a putterer ... and just like the turtle in Aesop's Fable ... I slowly but surely 'won' the race (or at least managed to keep a little bit ahead of the game).

I like to 'race' but I'm more of an endurance runner. I race against time constantly. Got a tedious job that needs to get done? Race against the clock as you work at the task at hand. Have an overwhelming job that makes your knees go weak at the very thought of it?  Break it down into small, manageable pieces and imagine a timeline that you can try to beat.

When I worked out of my home (or even worked within my home without the ability to putter with things around the house at the same time that I was earning that pay cheque) housework, cooking or anything domestic became like a short distance sprint. I had a finite amount of time to do what had to be done. My long distance endurance skills did not work in my favor. I did very little with the little time that I had.

I am now into Week #2 of my renewed daycare career. Monday? I didn't do so well. Today? I did awesome (if I do say so myself!).

I got up a half hour earlier. That was the best way to kick start the day. I didn't short change myself of the quiet time that I have come to need in my day.

Then I started puttering.

Finding a few cat hairs on the one-year-old in my care yesterday reminded me of the promise that I made to myself years ago. I did not (and still do not) want my kids going home covered in cat hair. My obsession with tending to cat hair is back.

I wiped down the couch with a dual goal in mind. To get rid of any cat hair and scrub out any 'water marks'. Our cat drools when he sleeps and leaves his drool marks behind in his favorite cat-napping spots. My one-year-old is at an everything-goes-in-my-mouth stage ... which has included the couch (yuck). And my two-year-old is at a copy-whatever-you-see-anyone-else-does stage ... which means that he has also sucked on our couch a little bit (gross). Thus ... the couch was in dire need of a good scrubbing ...

Then ... I had pulled out the necessary ingredients and a recipe for Hamburger Soup. The soup will be an overkill for lunch (my one-year-old went home, after she threw up all over her mom as she was being dropped off this morning), since I am feeding 'two'. But it will be a tasty supper treat on this cool and windy fall day. Plus ... I will be able to freeze the excess.

The house smells like a home. It is starting to feel like someone who cares lives here. I've missed this place. It feels like home again ... and oh, how I've missed this feeling!